The Little Christmas tree
by Hermionejean99
Summary: Just a little Christmas story I put together due to lack of Gail and Holly Christmas stories.


I don't own anything, except maybe the Christmas tree. This is my first fic, and I've been told I overuse commas, so I apologize in advance, using lots of commas :).

The Little Christmas Tree

Holly looked over at Gail, who was staring intently at the corner of the living room deep in thought. "Earth to Gail, what's going on in your zone?"

Gail, startled by Holly's voice, looked over at her questioner and said pointedly, "I think you should get a Christmas tree."

"Ok?" Responded Holly, giving the girl in front of her a quizzical look, "may I ask why?"

Gail looked back over at the corner, "I could give you plenty of reasons, but I think I'll stick with because it's Christmas, and no one could tell by looking at your apartment. It just looks like a boring forensic pathologist lives here." Gail got up and started sizing out the corner she foresaw the tree going in. "I think this corner is perfect. I think a tree would look great here, plus, where am I supposed to put your presents?"

Holly cocked an eyebrow at Gail, "for it just being a 'boring forensic pathologist's' apartment, you sure spend a lot of your time here." In fact, that was true. It had been months since the Kevin Ford ordeal, and Gail was spending her fair share of nights at Holly's. There was always some reasoning behind it. Tonight it was "Chris has Christian for the weekend, and I'm not up to dealing with the level of corny that comes out when the kid is around." Not that Holly minded. She and Gail had "something" going on, they had established this long ago. They weren't seeing other people, but Gail was hesitant to put a label on it. Typical Gail, she was a handful, put she put a smile on Holly's face that made everything bearable.

"I didn't say you were a boring forensic pathologist, I was merely stating that it looked like one lived here. You, my dear, are so much more than a boring forensic pathologist, you are an interesting forensic pathologist, who happens to be very attractive," Gail responded, looking at Holly with her icy blue eyes. She gestured to the seat open next to her, "why don't you come here and we can talk about your other attributes."

Holly laughed and shook her head as she sat down, "you're lucky you're pretty missy, but I didn't realize we were supposed to buy each other gifts."

Gail glared over at the sparkle in Holly's eyes and slumped back, "Fine, but I was going to get you something amazing. Guess you'll have to settle with an ugly sweater."

Holly laughed and pulled Gail back to her. "Ok, so when are we going to pick this tree out?" She knew she was treading in unknown waters by making it their tree rather than her tree, but it was Christmas and it was a risk Holly was willing to take.

Once again, Gail pulled away from Holly and looked at her incredulously. "What is this we business you speak of?"

Holly laughed and shook her head, "Well, you want a tree in my house, so I guess you should help pick it out, shouldn't you?" Holly wasn't ready to push the subject, but at the same time, she wanted to reopen the whole conversation.

"Well I guess that is true." Gail responded, eying Holly. She knew exactly what this was going to lead to, but she did the Gail Peck thing, and avoided the situation entirely. The problem was Gail actually wanted it to be their tree. She'd been comfortable with everything, and if verbalizing feelings wasn't part of the ordeal, she would've started doing things together a little sooner. They'd gone together for Halloween, but that wasn't really that big of a deal and Gail had been allowed to make the costume choice. Beyond that was the grey area that Holly had more than graciously allowed Gail to have to deal with.

Gail got up and pulled Holly with her. "C'mon babe, let's just do this now."

Holly grabbed her keys and started the car. "We have a few minutes before the car is warm," she said as she placed her hands on Gail's hips, "why would we want to waste them." Gail looked up at Holly with her cool blue eyes as Holly placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"I hate wasting time," Gail whispered as she pulled Holly into a deep kiss.

They arrived at the tree lot around dusk. It was snowing lightly and the trees were dusted with a layer of snow. Gail got out of the car and followed Holly up and down the aisles, trying to find the perfect tree. She slid her hand into Holly's as they wandered around, judging height and color and factoring everything into their final decision.

"How about this one?" Holly asked as she held up an adequate tree that seemed to fit all the qualifications and twirled it around for Gail to see.

"It's OK," Gail responded as she pulled away from the girl she was with and grabbed one a few spots down. "I think this one has stolen my heart though. It has personality. Plus this close to Christmas it might be the only decent one we find."

Holly gave a slight eye roll and walked over to the tree. It stood about the right height and it really was the only one she could see that was still green and full of life. "Must be destiny." She said as she grabbed the tree, "Maybe Larry will cut me a deal since we won't be spending much time with it. I feel like he owes me for something from the past."

Gail watched her friend walk over to whom she could only assume was Larry and try to haggle their Christmas tree. The fact that it was a joint Christmas tree was more comforting than scary and that's what really scared Gail. The fact that their lives were becoming more intertwined had been becoming more noticeable. She had actually been slowly prepping herself for their talk for the last few weeks. She smiled as she wandered back to the car, thinking about the upcoming holiday, and how for the first time in a long time, she had a reason to look forward to the day.

Holly climbed into the driver's seat after assisting Larry in getting the tree strapped to the top of the vehicle and wishing the man a Merry Christmas and giving him a quick hug. "Well my Christmas present was a Christmas tree from Larry, so I guess that this tree really was meant for us."

"So are you going to tell me exactly how you know Mr. Larry?" Gail asked smirking over at her driver.

"Larry was in my algebra class, and he was part of the starting line on our high school hockey team. Moral of the story is he sucked at math, and I was the nerd who enjoyed our team winning so I may have assisted him in passing the class. No big deal."

Gail smiled as she watched the lights on the businesses they passed. "Hey, that place looks like it sells ornaments, and our little tree needs a star and at least one ornament."

Holly smiled at the girl next to her and pulled into the parking lot. "Ok, you're special, and I enjoy that."

After they had sparsely decorated their tree they sat on the couch staring at it, Holly had Gail pulled close to her side and they each had a beer they were sipping on.

"Holly" Gail said the name questioning not diverting her gaze from the little tree.

"Yes Gail?" Came the reply as Holly looked down at the girl in her arms.

"I wanted to thank you," Gail replied, finally looking up at the girl who held her close, "for everything. For the tree, for putting up with me, for being more understanding than you need to be with me. I know it hasn't been easy for you. How could it be? You're so patient and I don't deserve it and I don't deserve you, but here we are, and you're still here and I catch myself smiling anytime I think of you and I can't help but think if I don't initiate this damn conversation soon you're going to just give up on me."

Holly looked at Gail with a grin. "At least take a breath before you start another ramble."

Gail punched Holly's arm playfully and pushed her away, "I'm trying to be serious and all you want to do is joke around."

Holly grabbed Gail and pulled her back. "I'm sorry, you were rambling, and you're so adorable when you just let your words fall out of your mouth."

Gail shot her an icy look.

"Also adorable when you do that." Holly shifted herself so she was facing Gail. "I know you hate talking about this, and I'll never make you do anything you don't want to do, and if you don't want to do this now you don't have to. I'm not going anywhere Gail. I don't want to go anywhere."

"I don't want this to be our only Christmas tree." Gail took a deep breath and continued, "I've had such bad luck with relationships. Hell, I'm not really good at maintaining long term friendships outside of work. Yet somehow I haven't screwed this up. In fact, I wake up every morning wondering what I could have possibly done to deserve someone as perfect as you. Not giving our relationship any real title was like me hiding in the dark shadows of the corner, ready to dart into my escape pod. If I didn't get to close, it wouldn't hurt so much when you left, because everyone always leaves. Somehow you've drawn me out. I don't know exactly what the next step is for us, but I'm ready to take it."

"I will never get tired of your off the wall analogies," Holly spoke softly, grabbing Gail's hands in her own. "and I actually think getting a tree together is a great next step in our relationship. It shows commitment. I've never minded waiting for you, because you are worth every minute."

Gail looked down at their hands, "I think I'm falling in love with you."

Holly lifted Gail's head up gently by her chin. "Every time I look into your eyes I fall a little deeper. I never said anything because I didn't want to scare you. Baby you're my world, and I'll do anything to keep it that way."

Gail ran her hand through Holly's brunette locks and pulled her into a kiss. It started out soft and slow before Holly but Gail's lip lightly. Gail sighed and Holly took the opportunity to dip her tongue into Gail's mouth. They pulled apart, gasping for breath.

"Let's go to bed baby," Holly said, her forehead touching Gail's, "I have some ideas on how we can celebrate taking the next step in our relationship." She got up and started towards her bedroom.

"Hey, one more thing," Gail said, following the beautiful woman in front of her, "I want my own drawer, you know, so I'm not always running home to change. I feel like if we are progressing, that's something I need."

Holly pulled her into another deep kiss before separating and pulling her into the bedroom. "You are beautiful and a huge dork, a beautiful dork. Of course you can have a drawer. If you're lucky I might even donate some closet space, but that might have to be earned."

Fin


End file.
